Latest / Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast / Dr. Sukgu Han, Chief of the Division of Vascular Surgery and Endovascular Surgery at the Keck School of Medicine of USC

Transcript

Dr. Sukgu Han, Chief of the Division of Vascular Surgery and Endovascular Surgery at the Keck School of Medicine of USC · Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast

• 0:00
  - Prepare to dive into the forefront
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  of healthcare innovation at our 14th annual meeting coming
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  up on April 8th
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  through 11th at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago, with thousands
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  of industry leaders converging over four dynamic days
• 0:13
  of discussions on crucial topics from health IT
• 0:17
  to executive leadership.
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  It's where the future of healthcare takes shape.
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  We can't wait to connect with you in person
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  and engage in these important conversations.
• 0:27
  - This is Laura Dedo with the Becker's Healthcare Podcast.
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  I'm thrilled today to be joined by Dr.
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  Sue Khan, chief of the Division of Vascular Surgery
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  and endovascular therapy at Keck School of Medicine of USC.
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  Dr. Ha's a pleasure to have you on the podcast today.
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  - Great to be here. Thanks for having me, Laura.
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  - Now, I'm looking forward to talking
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  with you further about some of the things
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  that you're doing at, um, the School of Medicine, some
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  of your research and the projects that are really, um,
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  impactful for patients.
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  But before we dive into my discussion,
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  can you tell me a little bit more
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  about yourself and your background?
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  - Sure. Uh, so hi everybody. My name is Sue Khan.
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  Um, I'm one
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  of the vascular surgeons at the University of Southern California.
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  As Laura introduced, I currently, uh, am the chief
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  of Division of Vascular Surgery, uh, at USC.
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  I also have been serving as a program director
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  for our fellowship and residency training program,
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  and had the, um, aortic center here as a co-director.
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  Um, I'm originally from Seoul, Korea, uh, born
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  and raised there, but immigrated
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  to Southern California when I was 15,
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  and I spent most of my time in Irvine, um,
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  where I did my undergrad,
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  undergraduate work in medical school, uh,
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  where I met my wife, who's also a physician at USC.
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  And, uh, we have two little, um, children, uh, eight
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  and 6-year-old, Lily and Tara, uh, two daughters.
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  Um, and,
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  and we live in Pasadena, south Pasadena, California.
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  - Well, that's amazing. Wow.
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  And you know, what a, a great, um, family
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  to have in another physician as your spouse.
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  I can imagine there's a lot of coordinating that goes on,
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  especially with two little daughters.
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  Um, you know, I, I can imagine
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  that need a lot of attention as well.
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  And so, you know, it just seems like a great place to be
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  and then to, um, to have a partner who's also a physician
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  and understands everything that goes into the job as,
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  as well as the family life.
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  - Yeah, absolutely. We're both very busy
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  as academic physicians
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  and she's also in leadership role, uh, at USC in the,
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  the division of gastroenterology.
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  So I think we are, um, are,
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  are raising our kids the best, best, uh, way we can.
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  Uh, but a lot of coordinating, a lot of extra help
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  and hope to be setting good examples for our, our children.
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  - Absolutely. I think that's all any of us can ever ask for,
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  uh, as parents, I feel.
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  But it definitely a big job, so, um, that's great to hear.
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  What are you most excited about right now, um,
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  as you enter your new role at Keck School of Medicine?
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  - Yeah, I'm, I'm most excited about really continuing
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  to be a part of this exceptional division
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  of vascular surgery that, uh, my predecessor Dr.
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  Fred Weaver built over the 26 years of, uh,
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  being the chief of our division.
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  Um, but really as the division chief, my role
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  I understand is now beyond what I'm doing
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  for my own research interest and my own achievements
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  and the clinical focus as a vascular surgeon,
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  but to really support this talented group of 12 physicians
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  to continue to succeed.
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  So, you know, personally, growing
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  and learning is what drives me and,
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  and wakes me up every morning, uh, and,
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  and love coming to work, and it gives me meaning every day.
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  And it's only been two and a half months in this chief role,
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  but I've really been enjoying learning, uh, about leadership
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  and program building
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  and planning for the future, you know, in every sort of, uh,
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  service line that we provide as a vascular surgery division,
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  whether it's in the aortic space or limb salvage center.
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  And so I really look forward to supporting our faculty
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  grow in the same way that I was supported,
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  um, by Dr. Weaver.
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  And I'm excited to provide the launching pad for some
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  of our young faculty and watch their career grow and, and,
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  and blossom as well in the future.
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  - Absolutely. That's amazing to hear.
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  And as you mentioned,
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  that is definitely a mindset shift when you go from really
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  focusing on yourself and,
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  and, you know, being a superstar in terms of
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  what you're doing on the clinical side as well
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  as your research and, um, then shifting into a role
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  where you're really building a team and supporting others.
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  Um, you know, I know it can be very rewarding,
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  but, you know, certainly takes a, an intentional shift.
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  Um, what was that like for you?
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  What did you, I guess, um, what have you been doing
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  to just kind of get yourself in a great place to, um,
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  really fulfill that role in a,
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  in a very successful way? Yeah,
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  - I think identifying, um, talented partners,
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  um, and, uh, like-minded individuals with similar focus,
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  uh, is I think is key to success.
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  But, uh, I think for, for that part, I, I really, I mean,
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  this is, I've been with this division over the last 10 years
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  as faculty, and I've been a trainee here at USC
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  as a general surgery, uh, resident
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  for seven years prior to that.
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  Um, and so I don't think
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  that part was very challenging for me.
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  I think we have a, I've been lucky to be a part
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  of the division where we have exceptionally talented group
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  of people with high energy
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  and each of 'em with their own, um, expertise.
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  So that part has been easy.
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  I, I do think that balancing very busy clinical work
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  and the practice that you spend most of your time building
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  now with all these other administrative, um, duties
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  that also take up time, uh, is something I'm still learning.
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  But, you know, as I said, I think this learning
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  how to balance these things is also kind of fun.
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  Uh, and, and finding out that you can in some ways
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  balance those two things, uh, and,
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  and, uh, finding role models around the country
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  and asking for their advice, um,
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  has also been meaningful for me.
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  - That's great to hear. And definitely, you know, the,
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  the best kind of teams are those that work so well together
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  and, and just have a great dynamic.
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  So it's really cool to see that you've got all that energy
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  and passion, um, within your division, um,
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  at Keck School of Medicine.
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  So, you know, when you look at, um,
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  where you're at right now, what is, um, you know,
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  from the time you've spent there, what is one change
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  that you've made, um, that has yielded some great results?
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  - Yeah, so I, you know,
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  it's only been really since January 1st officially.
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  So it's, it's been what, uh, two and a half months.
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  It's probably too early for me to kind of point out what I,
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  what I did as a chief that made great results,
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  but I can give you a, a great example where a change made,
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  um, and being consistent with that change, uh,
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  and being able to lead a group of people, um, led
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  to great results is actually the aortic center.
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  Um, and so 12 years ago, Dr. Fred Weaver and Dr.
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  Ron Starnes created this multidisciplinary aortic team at
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  USC, led by cardiac
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  and vascular surgeons were dedicated to taking care
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  of patients with challenging aortic problems
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  and really work closely to provide patients
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  with the best available treatment options
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  that fit each patient's sort of need.
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  Um, so I, Dr. Fleischman and myself, Dr.
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  Fernando Fleischman, who's a cardiac surgeon at USC
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  and myself, a vascular surgeon in inherited this program,
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  uh, years ago, and worked really hard
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  to develop this program and take it to another level.
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  And I think that has been the success story
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  that has been modeled
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  after around the country at different aortic centers
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  and also in, in the other service line, uh,
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  at our own institution.
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  So we've been able to grow not only in clinical volume
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  of the Aortic Center, but the treatment options where
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  we have access to some of the cutting edge technology
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  through, uh, investigational pathway and others,
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  and offer treatments to patients that other centers don't.
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  And these patients come to us
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  from our region from all over now seeking our, our care.
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  So that, that's an example where, you know,
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  from program building point of view, being able to lead
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  a group of physicians with different expertise
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  to focus on the same problem
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  and provide sort of coherent, um, solution
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  that extends beyond sort of what is considered standard
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  or what is considered possible at some of other centers.
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  - That's fantastic to hear.
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  And, and you know, what a great example of way
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  that you've really been able to dig into
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  that more personalized touch with medicine
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  and, um, delivering that experience as well as outcomes
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  that is really beneficial to patients.
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  Now, before we wrap up here, where do you see some
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  of the biggest opportunities for continued
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  to growth at the Medi Medical School as well as the, um,
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  USC Comprehensive Aortic Center?
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  - Yeah, I mean, I think Aortic Center has kind
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  of morphed into a very well-oiled machine, uh, moving from
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  balancing open surgical excellence to, um,
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  you know, um, help define sort of future
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  of more cutting edge,
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  minimally invasive endovascular aortic repairs.
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  I think we've done a great job
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  and staying at the cutting edge of that, um,
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  the, you know, from the medical school, uh, side,
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  I think expanding that model and,
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  and applying that to other areas.
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  And we've been able to leverage this in some ways by
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  really adopting this multidisciplinary model
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  to our limb salvage service line, uh,
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  incorporating our podiatrist colleagues led
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  by doctors David Armstrong
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  and Laura Shin, who are also, not only podiatrists,
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  but the NIH fund, the scientists working closely
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  with our partner, Dr.
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  Miguel Manzer, who has special focus and interest
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  and expertise in taking care of patients
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  with peripheral arterial disease has been really kind
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  of transformative within our division and our institution.
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  Similar approach has been done, uh, crossing sort
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  of the department lines from the Department of Surgery
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  and cardiovascular space to working closely
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  with our neurosurgery colleagues, Dr.
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  John Russin and, uh, microsurgery Plastic Surgery,
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  Dr. Joe Carey, who are also
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  very interested in solving our problem
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  with spinal cord ischemia, which happens as a consequence
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  of successful aortic repair in a lot of these patients.
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  So, working with them closely, bringing in
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  our colleagues from neuroradiology department
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  to really look at this problem, um,
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  and neuromodulation expertise with, uh, Dr. Charles Liu,
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  who also is a scientist not only at a neurosurgeon at, uh,
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  at USC, but also a scientist at Caltech.
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  Looking at this problem together
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  and starting to focus on this and,
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  and launching this, uh,
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  multidisciplinary effort has been really exciting.
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  Um, from technological standpoint, I think our field
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  of vascular surgery is currently undergoing a
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  disruptive sort of, um,
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  paradigm change potentially in our workflow
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  with this explosion of, um, AI and machine learning.
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  And so leveraging this, uh, it's going to be key
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  for our success of our institution and our aortic center.
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  And so we're looking into different, uh, ways to collaborate
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  with other, collaborate with other institutions, as well
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  as leveraging some of the, um, cutting edge,
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  commercially available, uh, AI technology to bring it in
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  to our workflow, um, of already very robust,
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  clinically robust, uh, programs
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  to optimize our patient care.
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  - That sounds fascinating, you know, and,
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  and truly a collaborative effort.
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  I, as you said, bringing together
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  so many different specialties
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  and team members, um, around, you know, different patients
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  and cases, and, um, it just really is really cool
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  to see those opportunities, um, and how you've been able to,
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  or, or are looking at, um, continuing to grow in that space.
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  So Dr. Ham, thank you so much
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  for joining us on the podcast today.
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  This has been really a fascinating discussion
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  and I look forward to connecting with you again soon.
• 13:27
  - Thank you very much.